For me, no, not anymore. Recipes serve as inspiration and I rarely do more than scan the ingredients list and then go off to make something (inspired).
It's taken me a lot longer to develop a great intuition of which herbs, spices, and ingredients combine to make a great flavor than it did to develop the intuition of how /much/ to use if I know what I'm using.
The problem here is the threeish kinds of cooks:
- beginner
- experienced recipe follower
- experienced intuitive
Camps #1 and #2 want exactly the same thing, they just need varying level of specificity. Both would strongly prefer you give them exact measurements.
My guess is #1/#2 is the bulk of people who cook.
The recipe cards that everyone's family seems to have as heirloom keepsakes - those are all more #2 with a dash of #3 ambiguity thrown in to throw off any people trying to copy grandma's old recipe.
The recipes swapped at potlucks and family dinners - same. There's usually a (simpler or more shortcuty than the person might want to admit) recipe buried under there.
If I'm working from a recipe, yes? I don't sweat extreme precision, but I do use measuring spoons. Especially in something like a cookbook, I assume the author has put some thought into the measurements.
Do people normally measure spices? I never do. Ever. I assume the cook's lack of exact measuring (eyeballing) is why it says "spoonful", rather than "teaspoon."